eingradfandomcom-20200214-history
Team 11
Team 11 was the Adventurer's Guild team serving Sugarland and its surrounding area, which has seen intermittent bouts of activity and inactivity. Most recently, it was comprised of its three core members De Luca Laghari, Virgil Lasalle, and Erkos Vasco, and led by Siebold Wilfong. Ten years prior, it was comprised of Sugarland natives Case and Colt Applewhite, Sophia Denholm, and later Siebold Wilfong after his arrival to Eingrad, and led by Balthasar Marlowe. After the Siege of Sugarland, Team 11 was tentatively disbanded due to the destruction of Sugarland at the hands of Leon Wyldwood. Magnolia Rao is currently the only active member. The Marlowe Era Eight years before the Due Diadem Incident, Siebold Wilfong appeared in Sugarland with his pregnant wife, Allegretta. In exchange for Case's wife Erina watching over his newborn daughter, Siebold agreed to join Team 11. Eventually, Team 11 was assigned to a joint operation with Team 13 to venture deep into the Elven Territory to confirm a terrorist threat to the city-state of Karna and the Vespian region. A team of surveyors studying wildlife in the Zavala Valley, near the Vespian city of Fort Baird, was slayed by elven operatives operating under the name Kamuri. Kamuri's apparent goals were written in blood on nearby rockface, outlining their desire to "regain their people's dominance of the Elamdinn and restore their rightful place as the world's caretakers." Leon was vehemently opposed to working with Team 11, fearing for Sophia's safety on such a dangerous mission. Sophia dismissed Leon's objections angrily, attributing his concerns to protectiveness and dislike of her teammate, Case. After reaching the head of the River of the Paulownias, they ventured into an apparent Kamuri hideout, and they were ambushed upon exiting by Kamuri operatives. Unfamiliar to the dense forests of the Elven Territory, they were near helpless against the "shadows of the forest." In their escape, Leon was blindsided by falling rubble. Sophia sprang backwards, pushing Leon to safety but fell victim to a rogue boulder. With the right side of her body crushed and no way to free herself, Sophia accepted her fate and urged the group to leave her. Leon protested in a tearful frenzy, pouring all of his strength into lifting the boulder. In her shrieks of pain, Sophia begged Leon to leave with the others. Eventually, his teammates dragged him away, leaving for Vespia as Sophia was left to die. After returning to Jacinto, tired and wounded, Case regretfully told Leon that Sophia had discovered that she was pregnant just days before. The Wilfong Era The Magus of Flowers After submitting their Guild applications, De Luca, Virgil, and Erkos were assigned to Team 11 and sent to Sugarland by Leon. Their first meeting abroad the Ishtar was awkward, and they struggling to communicate with each other effectively. De Luca was friendly with his teammates and shared fairly openly, although he noted that the group of them were a "guarded bunch." Virgil was pleasant and generally friendly to his new comrades. For much of their career together, Erkos was distant with his teammates, rarely socializing with them unless it provided some utility. To Erkos's annoyance, De Luca and Virgil introduced the running joke that they were all brothers because of their similar features. While passing through the Piney Woods Forest, they encountered injured highwaymen attacked by rogue javelinas. Upon investigation, they noticed that the javelinas themselves showed signs of acid burns. After this had their first encounter with The Horned Wolf, who told them to "Follow the girl." Arriving in Sugarland, they were first greeted by Rhonda Murphy in the town hall. After visiting Raman Clinic, they were alerted to the fact that a young girl named Soledad had gone missing from Saint Anton's Day School. They quickly volunteered to help, eventually tracing the girl to a clearing in the nearby Rosedale Woods. Towering over the her was a large owlbear, exhibiting the same acid burns as the javelinas. Although fearful, Soledad adamantly begged Team 11 to help the enraged owlbear. As they attempted to fend off the beast, Dana Applewhite, their first ally, arrived to their aid. During the encounter, De Luca would accidentally loose a crossbow bolt into Dana's shoulder, incapacitating her almost immediately. Before Team 11 was overpowered, Siebold appeared and drove the owlbear away with a fear spell before collapsing. Javelina Hunting After meeting Siebold in his home, they were oriented to Guild practices and were allowed to explore the town. Frustrated with her performance against the owlbear, Dana led Team 11 to their new quarters in the Broken Spoke Bar and Tavern. After being reprimanded by her mother, Erina, and her father, Case, she pleaded to them to join the Guild. With some help in convincing, Dana was eventually allowed to join the Guild and Team 11. Curious about the hurt wildlife, Erkos was informed by several animals of a blight upstream of Waller Creek. As they ventured further east, they found that the creek exhibited a rapid increase in acidity. Belle of the Brawl About one month after discovering the Sugarland ruins, Team 11 was hired by Rainey Summers as bodyguards for the Orange Bull, Sabine's top wrestler, who had been receiving death threats from a mysterious sender. Under the guise of Sugarland's wrestling team, the Sugarland Cane Boilers, Team 11 infiltrated the tournament and investigate the fighters and organizers to determine the perpetrator. After winning against several wrestlers, Team 11 faced each other in the ring in a three-person semifinal match. In a surprising turn of events, Virgil bested his teammates handedly. During the semifinal match between the Bull, his nemesis Wheeler, and the mysterious newcomer Blue Badger, the tournament was besieged by waves of undead. Ultimately, wrestling super-fan Camille Beaumont was found to be the perpetrator, acting under a geas placed by Agatha Redriver to distract sheriff and Guild forces from their goal. With the help of Bethany Seguin, the Blue Badger, Team 11 defeated Camille and the undead and began their pursuit of Agatha. Agatha Redriver, along with the rest of the Due Diadem, excavated another set of ruins beneath the Sabine Memorial Cemetery in order to find and destroy another Chain of Ishtar. In the catacombs, Team 11 found dead elves piled nearly to the ceiling, in the same condition as in the javelina cave. Using the corpses in a necromantic ritual, Agatha summoned a monstrous bone naga to slow Team 11's approach. After defeating the bone naga, the found a long survivor among the corpses: an elven boy. Dana brought the catatonic boy back to Sabine while the rest of Team 11 delved deeper into the crypts. Team 11 would follow the caves to another set of Akkadian ruins, with Agatha waiting for them in the inner sanctum. Although they defeated Agatha and her simulacra, Team 11 was ultimately too late. Blaine Haber, the leader of Team 6, had revealed himself to be a traitor and shattered the Chain himself. Vexing Vacation As a reward for their efforts in Sabine, De Luca, Virgil, and Erkos were invited by Rainey to the Saibara Inn in the town of Lockhart for a much-needed vacation with the local Team 13. Together, both teams enjoyed food, hot springs, and the town's Lantern Festival. After an argument with the rest of Team 13, Adam Hurst went missing in the woods of Lockhart and Team 11 was tasked to retrieve him. They found Adam in a clearing, perched on a stone archway, where he mistakenly fell through and was transported into the Feywild. Team 11 followed him into the Feywild, but found no means of escape. Eventually, they were led by the fey to Enkidu, the Horned Wolf, who brought them to his to warn them Iskandar's impending revival. He explained that the Feywild is his throneworld, a personal, eldritch plane of existence created when a being essentially attains godhood. After the calamity caused by Iskandar millenia ago, Enkidu created the Feywild to sustain the material plane. Enkidu relayed that Iskandar's own throneworld, the Vault of Akkadia, was in danger of being accessed by the Due Diadem. Enuma Elish, the weapon of mass destruction used by Iskandar previously, was housed in the Vault. After a brief battle to test their strength, Enkidu provided them boons to aid them in their journey. According to Enkidu, the final Chain of Ishtar resided in the mythical Arbor Sepulchre, located in the heart of the Glasslands. Ghost In the Machine Magnolia is defeated in a train-top battle, allowing Team 11 to move further up the compartments. After learning that her brother Eugene was alive in Sabine, Magnolia allied herself with Team 11 to stop her former master. Ingram's automatons nearly overwhelmed Team 11 in the cramped train compartments, until Virgil discovered that gems located in their abdomens were their power source, much like the constructs found in the Akkadian ruins. When Team 11 reached the locomotive, Ingram was beginning to siphon energy from the Maxwell engine. Sensing his impending defeat, Ingram revealed that the dozens of automatons he commanded were powered by elven souls trapped within phylacteries (the gems seen previously). In fact, the constructs in the Akkadian ruins contained the souls of dead Akkadians as well. Moreover, the Maxwell engine itself was powered by the soul of a single individual: his son, Virgil Lasalle. Finally learning who Virgil's original was, Team 11 was faced with a decision: Keep Virgil Lasalle's soul trapped in the Maxwell engine and preserve the Ishtar, or free him from the engine and send Eingrad decades behind in technology. Ultimately, Virgil decided to siphon his original's soul into a phylactery and free him from the engine. Virgil merged the gem into a nearby automaton, finally granting his original a body after nearly a decade. As the Ishtar ground to a halt, Magnolia plunged her lance into her former master's heart. After a lifetime of searching, Virgil had finally learned his origins, and as a result he gained a twin brother. As a sign of his gratitude, the original Virgil changed his name to Ovid' '''and embracing his new life. The Due Diadem During the Siege of Sugarland, Leon finally revealed himself as the true leader of the Due Diadem. Making use of the fraction of Enuma Elish that he had access to, he called forth a meteor swarm to annihilate what he saw as the only means of his defeat: Enkidu's successor, Erkos Vasco; the only two Grails in existence, Virgil Lasalle and Soledad Wilfong; and the Mindflayer, De Luca Laghari. In his final act, Siebold summoned a prismatic sphere on Team 11 and his daughter using all of his remaining anima. Looking over his shoulder, he offered them a smile before being consumed in an explosion of light. Leon then flew to the Arbor Sepulchre, located in the center of the Glasslands, to destroy the last of Ishtar's Chains. Wrought with despair, Team 11 felt hopeless in the aftermath of their defeat. Team 11 was wounded and surrounded in the destruction of their home, faced with the seemingly impossible task of reaching the Arbor Sepulchre. In their hour of need, Maxwell revealed that he had located and repaired Odessa's old ship, the' Lilith V', outfitting with arcane turbines that allowed it to sail the skies at speeds rivaling the Ishtar''. To operate, however the'' Lilith required an enormous amount of energy. On Maxwell's suggestion, Ovid moved his phylactery into the ship's engine, allowing him to be both the ''Lilith's pilot and energy source. In the final confrontation, Leon was defeated by Team 11. As a last act of desperation, Leon invoked the totality of power inside of the Vault of Akkadia, making his body the vessel of Iskandar's sealed spirit. Team 11 once again rallied together at one last stand, and Iskandar was eventually defeated. Epilogue The entire series of events would later be appropriately named the Due Diadem Incident, sending rippling effects throughout all of Eingrad. Erkos continued his new role as Enkidu's corporeal vessel. Virgil eventually left the Guild in the months following the Incident, with the parting words that "had to find all the lives that Ingram destroyed and set them free." De Luca would disappear immediately after the incident without a word; his whereabouts are unknown. Although incapacitated, Leon was still a vessel for the vault's near-infinite amount of anima. Cordelia and the rest of Team 1 apprehended Leon, and ten days later, 108 arcane bonds were placed on his body to render him immobile. In an agreement with the Karnan Raja Anil Khan, he was sentenced by the Vespian Confederation to imprisonment for the rest of his days in a newly built cell in the lowest depths of Lake Surya. Before he was gagged with one last seal, he issued a brief, harrowing warning to De Luca Laghari from his cell: "You have yet to find your fate, Mindflayer. But your fate has found you."